Early Spanish settlers saw Florida as 'a business opportunity'

An estimated 500 to 1,000 descendants of Solana and Sanchez -- called "Floridanos," "old Floridians" -- live in Florida. Many still live close to St. Augustine. Many even live -- coincidentally -- on the same land where their ancestors raised cattle. Many consider themselves the only true links to the original Spanish settlers because Sanchez and Solana were the only two Spaniards who stayed throughout the British period. A Los Floridanos Society, composed of Solana and Sanchez descendants, seeks to preserve the families' heritage. Here are some of their stories.

EARL SANCHEZ

Ancestor

Born

Francisco Xavier Sanchez

1736

Francisco Xavier Roman Manuel Sanchez

1792

George Washington Sanchez

1819

James Arthur Sanchez

1878

Orlando Cyatt Sanchez

1899

Earl Clyde Sanchez

1928

Earl Clyde Sanchez II

1956

Earl Sanchez, a semi-retired 56-year-old who lives in Plant City and worked at the Home Shopping Network after a 20-year career as a maintenance manager at an orange juice processing plant, says his family knew they belonged to an old Spanish family. "But that's all they knew," he says.

Sanchez didn't learn about his roots until 1988, when he started doing his own research. "It becomes a lifelong quest for further knowledge," he says.

At the Los Floridanos extended family reunions, he says you can see a family resemblance. With green eyes and a medium complexion, Earl Sanchez doesn't look like someone with Spanish roots. The Sanchez family has large foreheads, a beefy build, sloping shoulders and receding hairlines, he says.

FRANK CELLON

Ancestor

Born

Francisco Xavier Sanchez

1736

Francisco Xavier Roman Manuel Sanchez

1792

Rafaela Sophia Maria Sanchez

1822

Mary Elizabeth Wilson

1844

Mary Murray Scarborough

1863

Scarboroguh DeCosta Cellon

1882

Ralph Wilson Cellon

1910

Ralph W. Cellon Jr.

1934

Frank Cellon

1961

A 52-year-old retired interior designer, Cellon lives in Melrose, east of Gainesville. Cellon's family was in the cattle business and by sheer coincidence worked on land that was once owned by an ancestor in 1820. "It was meant to be," Cellon says in a Southern drawl. He knows the family history intimately. "Growing up, I was very interested in family history," he says, "and then I started digging up stuff about the family and learned, my God, we've been here a long time."

Cellon conducted interviews with cousins and older relatives and studied copies of documents stored at the St. Augustine Historical Society. "I've been doing this for 40 years," he says, long before the internet made genealogical research easier. Cellon even has a few family artifacts, including a gold-edged Sanchez family locket that dates back to Francisco Xavier Sanchez, and a lock of braided hair.